What All You must Share with Your Workspace Interior Architect
1. FUNCTIONALITY - this reminds me of a beautiful phrase, "form follows function", here the term 'function' refers to utility, requirement or the satisfaction of user needs.
Then utility is placing different spaces like reception, meeting rooms, conference room, workstation area in their apt location for their easy accessibility.
Then are the requirements and needs for your space, hence you can discuss the number of cabins and workstations you need, kind of pantry whether dry or wet, conference rooms and meeting rooms requirement, reception, how many people you want to anticipate in the waiting zone at one point so that waiting seats can be planned accordingly.
At last is user satisfaction where you can define storage spaces required, their location near each seat or centralized or any other aspirations. So be specific and open about all your needs and desires. In this way, your designer can easily work on your layout satisfying all you want. To sum it up, I would like you to state that the job of your designer is to match your functional requirements with aesthetics. I personally prefer functionality over aesthetics.
2. Let's move to another point to discuss, which is WORK CULTURE: each workspace has its own work culture. You may like open concepts with cubicles, or closed cabins and division of areas according to departments.
Hence be specific about what type of culture you want your interior space to follow. Another example is: few organizations are good with people sitting anywhere and working as they please, a kind of trend (or culture) we see in co-working spaces but few corporates demand a disciplined interior which ensures that the people sit in their defined spaces, where meetings are held only in defined meeting rooms, not in open lounges or cafeteria or sit-out areas. Interior designing is not just interior designing it should blend with your culture, the culture which you want to create for your people and for your company.
3. Next which I like is that your office should be the REFLECTION OF YOUR PERSONALITY and NATURE OF WORK you do. You must explain your business to your interior architect so that they can add a couple of mood elements or design concepts in your interiors reflecting your business.
Like we are working for Nestle and we are ensuring that we add mood elements like spices or the Maggi journey or interiors to reflect the yellow color theme which Maggi has. Another example is a real estate office where we did few walls with themes consisting of maps of geographies where this company operates.
And needless to say, your office should be a shadow of your personality, the kind of colors you like. The aura you carry, your office must carry the same aura. Here different design themes can come into play, say, for example, you may like modern interiors or contemporary or vernacular. If you are a person with contemporary taste, so should be your office interiors. This can also be done by sharing some images of the kind of offices you like.
4. Next which is very important is, BUDGETING of your office: you need to have a basic idea about how much you want to spend because interiors can be done in any price range and initial briefing on the budget by you to your designer would impart them a clear cut thought process on what lines they should do the designing.
After sharing your budget with the architect, both of you can sit and plan on how to fit your plans in the defined budget. Your architect can suggest you different layouts, structures keeping your budget in mind.
Thus, consider your architect as your best friend and don't hesitate in sharing the investment that you are willing to make in the project.
5. Another is SITE PROBLEM and CURRENT SITE SITUATION: this is a very important point as your designer should be well aware of your site and its current situation.
Here you can discuss if there are any site issues like water lines, fire fighting lines, floor level if you are well aware of these points or if not, you can always request your designer to visit the site to get the current situation.
If not discussed well ahead of starting the project, you may face the same problems in future and your purpose of hiring an interior architect will not be fruitful. All problems, major or minor should be put on the table and your interior architect will take care of them.
And don't be shy, every structure has some faults and flaws. That is wht interior architects are here for.
6. Last but not the least is PROJECT TIMELINE: each project's timeline depends upon its area of work and its type of work to be done so be clear at what pace you want your project to be completed or handed over.
Once you'll be clear your designer will also work at that pace to deliver that or he will discuss if there will be any difficulty or challenges in delivering the project in that timeline.
Also, keep in mind that there may be a few setbacks during the process, so keeping that in consideration, you can add a few extra days to your timeline to avoid panic later on.
Now that the designer is well versed with all your requirements, site, its issues, et cetera. give them time and space to complete the design and ideally a good planning time will lead to quick execution.
Your designer is like your doctor, discuss all your aspirations and problems and he will guide you well.
**In case you have any QUERIES, you are most welcome to CONTACT OUR ENTHUSIASTIC TEAM and we will make sure that all your doubts are clarified. :)
Written by: Akhilesh Leekha & Anshul Ghangas
Designed by: Shweta Singh